Star Trek: The Motion Picture (Super 8)
| discs = 1 (American) 1 or 3 (German) | director = Robert Wise | date = | date2 = | rating = n/a | reference = 1070 (all single reel editions) 1080, 1081 and 1082 (German three-reel edition) | year = 2270s | cover2 = Super 8 interior casing of The Motion Picture.png }} Star Trek: The Motion Picture was the Super 8 home media film release of . By the time of its release, the Super 8 home media format was already on its way out, in favor of the new, successful Betamax/VHS video tape formats, and the title has, to date, become the only one Star Trek production known to have been released in the format. Background information *As indicated on the box, the release intended for North America came in three language dubbed variants; English, French and Spanish. Which language a film box contained was indicated by a simple sticker on the film reel. Being a bonafide film format, and thus not beholden to the varying television color systems, the release was not exclusive to America, as it was disseminated to other areas in the world as well, where any of the three languages was the native one. *Paramount Pictures opted not to distribute the Super 8 format themselves, but instead farm out distribution to German "Marketing Film International" (a Super 8 specialist with a subsidiary based in New York City at the time http://adultloopdb.nl/category/marketing-film/) for all countries, indicated by the fact that Marketing Film's single reel catalog number, 1070, applied for all countries/language editions. Paramount's own distribution arm, Paramount Home Video, concentrated on the home market distribution of the video tape formats. As Paramount had at that time no immediate plans yet to concurrently disseminate the new home market media abroad (in the UK for example, the first Motion Picture tapes only started to show up from mid-1981 onward, well over a year after the movie tapes had hit the American home market, and then in the rental circuit only at first), it is conceivable that it became the reason for them to employ the by then obsolete Super 8 format for the movie as well, a preliminary, intermediate stop-gap solution of sorts, in the process also explaining why The Motion Picture has remained the only Star Trek title released in the format. *At least one other language edition is known to exist, the (unsurprisingly) German language variant, likewise distributed through Marketing Film International. German customers had the option to acquire the movie in two variants, as the single reel version, or as a three-reel Star Trek - Der Film variant, each reel separately packaged and endowed with the sub-titles "Mission Enterprise", "Alarmstufe 'Rot'", and "10 Minuten bis zur Ewigkeit", respectively. It has been noted that the entirety of the three-reel variant lacked scenes that were present on the single-reel variant. http://www.super-8-hobby.de/rezent394.htm *Due to the high retail price of the format, the majority of the releases ended up in the rental outlet circuit. *A Super 8 reel of The Motion Picture has in 2016 made an appearance in a ''Star Trek'' parody and pop culture production. In the short-lived television science fantasy series The Shannara Chronicles (Season 1, Episode 7: "Utopia"), humans in a far-flung future had uncovered a Super 8 copy of the movie, which they erroneously took as real evidence of the great achievements of ancient men. Cover gallery Back cover Star Trek The Motion Picture, Super 8.jpg.JPG|Back cover American edition File:Cover Star Trek The Motion Picture, Super 8 (German).jpg|Cover German single reel edition File:Back cover Star Trek The Motion Picture, Super 8 (German).jpg|Back cover German single reel edition File:Cover Star Trek The Motion Picture, Super 8 (German 3-reel edition, part 1).jpg|Cover German three-reel edition, part 1 File:Back cover Star Trek The Motion Picture, Super 8 (German 3-reel edition, part 1).jpg|Back cover German three-reel edition, part 1 File:Cover Star Trek The Motion Picture, Super 8 (German 3-reel edition, part 2).jpg|Cover German three-reel edition, part 2 File:Back cover Star Trek The Motion Picture, Super 8 (German 3-reel edition, part 2).jpg|Back cover German three-reel edition, part 2 File:Cover Star Trek The Motion Picture, Super 8 (German 3-reel edition, part 3).jpg|Cover German three-reel edition, part 3 File:Back cover Star Trek The Motion Picture, Super 8 (German 3-reel edition, part 3).jpg|Back cover German three-reel edition, part 3 File:Bearing witness to the once peaceful co-existence between humans and 'elves'.jpg|Denizens of a far flung future watching a Super 8 film of The Motion Picture in ''The Shannara Chronicles External link *Star Trek - Der Film - German webpage detailing the German language variants